I think it's time to pick up some gear of my own as I'm going to book some lessons here right away and I'd like to take my own kite when I'm on holidays.

Last year when i took lessons in Honduras the place I went to used Best kites, can't remember which model of kite though.

The kite I learned on was a four line kite and I've read a little bit on the 5 line kite and the safety aspects of it. Is a five line the way to go for a beginner? I felt comfortable using the four line kite and I'm thinking that i'd be more inclined to go with that again. As you can tell I really have no idea though.

I've looked on Ebay and it seems to have decent deals on used kites but I don't know which model would work best for someone just learing. Is there a website that has a gear guide like Wakeaboarder has or wakeworld?

Also harness? waist or saddle type?

Board i'll just buy a used one on ebay probably. don't need anything fancy, hopefully get one with some bindings...

Anything else?

Is it better to buy a bunch of used stuff or just go new and buy some sort of package deal? What worries me about package deals is they are just the crap the retailer usually can't sell and packages up a bunch of gear that nobody wants or is really cheap. I would never buy a wakeboard package deal, so I'm a bit leary of buying a kiteboard package deal._________________Don't do anything rash.....and don't do anything to get a rash...

The gear simply comes down to money. How much do you want to spend going into it? The trade off is maintenance. You can buy used kites cheap, like $100, but you dont know what your going to get. You dont want to have to be patching and fixing all the time trying to keep old beat up kites in the air, but if your on a budget you just might have to. You dont want to buy new because you are going to tear up your first set learning, but it is nice to not have to be so concerned with maintenance and your dings are your own.

I would settle on something in the middle. Used but not "too used". Prob in the $400-$500 range.

Choosing boards is just like wakeboarding. There is no perfect board. Everyone likes different things and all performance attributes have pros and cons. As your kiteboarding style evolves, your board will pref will change. Some like small fast boards for big air, some prefer a more wakeboard feeling board, and other like surfy feeling board. I would just go with something middle of the road to get started.

Harness is really personal preference. Seat harnesses are easier when learning. When learning you spend a ton of time with the kite above your head and a waist harness tends to ride up when the newb send the kite to zenith in a hurry all the time. However, the seat harness has two crotch straps which never fail to find a ball during the ups and downs of the learning process.

Check out www.iwindsurf.com for used kite classifieds. Kiters are worse gear junkies than wakeboarders. They trade out thousands of dollars in kites every few months in the hopes that newer gear will make them better. Their stupidity is your golden ticket to cheaper kites._________________TONA

Only just saw this post, I was going to say that Slingshot have a great starter package at the moment which includes their new Key HD kite, board, lines, bar, leash - only thing you need to add on top is the harness._________________Suck it up and get hardcore!

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